Various commercially available catheters and endoscopes exist for introducing into the body vessels and cavities a variety of surgical tools, fluids, and other materials, such as radiographic contrast materials, angioplasty balloons, fiberoptic scopes, laser lights, and cutting instruments. Also, various techniques and systems have been developed for guiding or steering the catheters in the body vessels and cavities for use of these tools, fluids, and other materials.
Examples of such guiding or steering techniques and systems for catheters may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,165 to Loiterman entitled "Guidance System For Vascular Catheter Or The Like," U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,844 to Ueda entitled "Medical Tube," U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,340 to Ebling et al. entitled "Device For Guiding Medical Catheters and Scopes," U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,521 to Metzger et al. entitled "Variable Stiffness Esophageal Catheter," U.S. Pat. No. 3,470 to Barchilon entitled "Dirigible Catheter," U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,725 to Bentov entitled "Controlled Motion Devices," and the Patent Cooperation Treaty ("PCT") patent application Ser. No. PCTW088/00810 of Tenerz et al. entitled "Guide For Mechanical Guiding Of A Catheter In Connection With Cardio And Vessel Examination." These catheters, however, failed to give the physician or other operator sufficient control of the distal end of the catheter and made it difficult to manipulate the distal end for specific isolation on particular sections of the body vessel or cavity.
Other steerable catheters or systems have been made to try to give the physician control of the use of the catheter during surgical procedures wherein fluids and the various tools are needed for the operation by providing a flexible tube for controlling the direction of movement of the distal end of the catheter. Examples of these other attempts may be seen in the PCT patent application Ser. No. PCTW091/11213 of Lundquist et al. entitled "Catheter Steering Mechanism," European Patent Application No. 370,158 of Martin entitled "Catheter For Prolonged Access," and U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,142 to Heckele entitled "Instrument For Examination And Treatment Of Bodily Passages." These devices, however, still failed to provide the control and manipulation of the catheter needed for use with the surgical tools and fluids required for an operation.
Therefore, there is still a need for a steerable catheter that provides the control and manipulation of the catheter for simultaneous use with the surgical tools, such as fiberoptic scopes or the like, and fluids needed for medical operations to thereby allow the physician to positionally locate and isolate problem areas within the body vessel or cavity.